Daevid Allen 'Banana Moon' Caroline Records ‎C 1512 A2/B1 + inner UK 1st 1975

	£		50
	$		66

Daevid Allen 'Banana Moon'  Caroline Records C 1512  UK 1st press Vinyl, LP, released in 1975.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in great shape. It played through beautifully on my stereo - no stick or skip. It is housed in its original, Virgin printed inner sleeve, which shows minimal signs of wear, and which is also in great shape - no rips or writing. The sleeve has some light ring-wear and retains its original promo sticker, and it is also in lovely condition, again, with no rips or writing. The spine is intact and legible. Matrix / Runout  Side One: C 1512 A-2U Matrix / Runout  Side Two : C 1512 B-1U
'Banana Moon' is the debut solo album by Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist and Gong leader Daevid Allen, first released in July 1971 on the French BYG Actuel label. The album is sometimes referred to as 'Bananamoon' and it was also reissued as a Gong album.
The album features Allen's former Soft Machine bandmate Robert Wyatt on drums and Archie Legget on bass, along with numerous guests including Gary Wright from Spooky Tooth, Maggie Bell from Stone the Crows and Gilli Smyth & Christian Tritsch from Gong. Guest drummer Pip Pyle would go on to join Gong soon after this recording. Some of the musicians on the album would subsequently contribute to Kevin Ayers' 1973 album 'Bananamour'.
The song "Memories", sung by Wyatt, was initially demoed in 1967 by Soft Machine (with Allen on guitar). "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein" was re-recorded in 1977 by Allen in collaboration with Here and Now as Planet Gong on their 'Floating Anarchy Live' 1977 album.
The original French release featured Didier Léon's painting on both the front and back of the gatefold cover, with notes and drawings by Daevid Allen on the inside surrounding a photo of the band. A BYG Actuel reissue, also from 1971, credits the album to Gong and has the band photo as the front cover. The first UK pressing, in 1975 on Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records, had an alternative cover drawn by Daevid Allen, featuring a peeled banana/moon playing a guitar.
In 2003, David Bowie included it in a list of 25 of his favourite albums, "Confessions of a Vinyl Junkie", saying that "it's possible, just possibly maybe, that strands of the embryonic glam style started here."
AllMusic Review by Peter Kurtz "This wacky, whimsical musical cartoon emerged several years after Daevid Allen left the legendary Soft Machine, and soon after he'd launched his classic hippie prog rock band Gong. It was initially released on the French label Byg in 1971, and re-released in England on the Virgin subsidiary Caroline in '75. Joining Allen here is an all-star troupe that includes Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine and Matching Mole), Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth), Maggie Bell (Stone the Crows), and Gong members "Submarine Captain" Christian Tritsch, Pip Pyle, and Allen's girlfriend Gillie Smyth (aka "Shakti Yoni"). It's no surprise that the musical anarchy here resembles early Gong, as opposed to the artist's later, more reflective solo recordings. With a smile and wink, the irrepressible, mischievous Allen has the ability to sound completely stoned yet totally likeable. He also shreds a few guitar strings on the balls-out rocking "It's the Time of Your Life." And the moody version of "Memories," sung here by Wyatt, is probably the best of at least a half-dozen floating around the Canterbury scene. Suffice to say, Banana Moon is quite weird, but it's also non-threatening and a great deal of fun".